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Kelly Walsh wrestling seeks Wyoming state title three-peat
Analu Benabise will try to win his fourth individual state title while also helping the Kelly Walsh Trojans in their attempt to win a third straight WHSAA Class 4A team state title this winter. (Credit: kellywalsh.org)

Kelly Walsh wrestling seeks Wyoming state title three-peat

CASPER, Wyo. (BVM) — Four Kelly Walsh wrestlers claimed individual state championships and three finished as runners-up in their weight class when the Trojans claimed their second consecutive WHSAA Class 4A team state title a year ago. Only three of those seven all-state grapplers are back this season, so suffice it to say, Kelly Walsh will need a few unheralded athletes to make a name for themselves in 2021 if the program is going to remain atop the Wyoming high school wrestling mountain and capture a team state title three-peat.

“We lost an incredible class of seniors,” Kelly Walsh head coach Travis Peak said. “Multiple state champions, multiple-time state champions. [But] we are pretty confident in the kids that we have now that we still could compete for a state title again.” 

But as Peak puts it, some things will also “have to go right” in order for the Trojans to win it all again.

“We have a bunch of guys in the middle weights that we’re going to have to figure out how to spread out and be the most competitive that we can,” Peak said, “and we’re going to have to stay healthy. We don’t have as deep of a team as we had last year, but those kids that have been having to be backups for a couple of years behind our studs are actually pretty good and they’re going to step up and do a good job this year.”

It might be too early to tell who will step up and help fill the void left by the likes of graduated state champs Kevin Anderson (160 pounds) and Kole Kraus (195), runner-up Phoenix Buske (220) and four-time individual state champion Jace Palmer (132), but it’s no secret who Peak should be able to count on to be a state title contender again this winter. 

Senior Analu Benabise is a three-time Class 4A individual state champ, having won the title at 138 pounds as a freshman and at 145 pounds in his sophomore and junior years. The University of Wyoming commit will try to join Palmer as the second wrestler in program history to win four state titles. 

“Anyone who’s going to beat him is going to have to pull off a pretty big upset,” Peak said of Benabise. “Analu is a very smart kid, too. He’s not the type of kid who’s going to go in there thinking that it’s in the bag, he’s going to go in there ready to pounce on it like he would his first state title. He’s going to go out and go for it.”

Junior Noah Hone will try to claim his first individual state title after finishing as the runner-up at 138 pounds as a sophomore. (Credit: kellywalsh.org)

While Benabise goes for his fourth individual state title, junior Noah Hone and senior Sam Henderson will both be going for their first after finishing second in their respective weight classes last year. Hone was the 138-pound runner-up as a sophomore.

“In my opinion, [he] may be the toughest wrestler in the state of Wyoming who does not already have a state title,” Peak said of Hone. “He absolutely wants one and we expect him to get one.”

Henderson, meanwhile, has taken a step up each of the past two years, placing third as a sophomore and second last year as a junior.

“He’s already got that mentality like, “There’s only one more thing I’ve got to do,’” Peak said. “I don’t feel like there’s anyone that outworks him. There might be kids who work as hard as him or keep up with him, but every day that Sam is at practice, he’s the hardest worker in the room. Anything he does, he does it as hard as he can. He’s training to win.”

The Trojans are training to win it all again as a team this winter. And with a little help from some less-proven wrestlers who can be an important complement to those who have already established themselves as title contenders, Kelly Walsh could find itself in position to extend its run of dominance to three years.

“We’re pretty confident in our guys’ ability,” Peak said. “Some of them don’t have that experience at the state tournament where the confidence comes from, but the more state tournaments or the more big opportunities you’re competing in, the more you’re exposed to that, the better you tend to do. These guys that are stepping in for us, I think they’re ready to answer that challenge.”